All operations related to controlled waste on land are licenced and regulated by local authorities and the Environment Agency. Controlled waste is any household, industrial and commercial waste which of course includes any redundant IT hardware. As the first purchaser has finished the operational use of the hardware, it must be classed as waste until proven otherwise which is done under an environmental permit.
Unauthorised or harmful depositing, treatment or disposal of controlled waste is prohibited. There are serious consequences for those who collect, distribute, process and export IT waste without the required licences and or permits.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that because someone has taken your IT waste from you, they are now responsible for the environmentally compliant disposal of it because you are terribly mistaken. Everyone involved in the waste cycle has a duty of care to ensure they distribute their waste to an authorised, legally compliant service provider. Should things not be done in accordance with the Environmental Act 1990, the paper trail will lead all the way back to the creator and they will be responsible for their actions under their duty of care.
Any organisation or individual who chooses to ignore the Environmental Act 1990 and the WEEE regulations 2007 risks heavy fines, awful press, a criminal record and unwelcome inconvenience. Isn’t it much simpler to do things properly when companies such as Revive IT provide a free compliant service with no cut corners?
So why is it so important that we all comply with the governing legislation?
Valuable materials and components consist in what we would assume is undesirable WEEE; Criminals, non-compliant IT recyclers and anyone wanting to earn some quick money are attracted to the prospect of removing valuable components to trade on and them depositing the waste carelessly without any consideration for the environment. If this were to happen to you, you risk having the dumped waste traced back to you which would result in the above consequences. It is critical that consideration is also given to any data that remains on your redundant IT hardware – this would be Christmas come early for criminals with both materials and confidential data to sell on.
By not choosing one of the market leaders such as ourselves, you risk hefty fines, criminal charges, bad publicity and future monitoring on your operations which can turn out very costly indeed.
The Environmental Protection Act imposes a duty of care on any person who imports, produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste or, as a broker, has control of such waste. The duty requires such persons to ensure that there is no unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of the waste, to prevent the escape of the waste from their control or that of any other person, and on the transfer of the waste to ensure that the transfer is only to an authorised person or to a person for authorised transport purposes and that a written description of the waste is also transferred.
These Regulations impose requirements on any person who is subject to the duty of care in respect of the making and retention of documents and the furnishing of copies of them. Breach of the duty of care or of these regulations is a criminal offence. This regulation requires the transferor and the transferee to complete and sign a transfer note at the same time as the written description of the waste is transferred. The transfer note must identify the waste in question and state its quantity, how it is stored, the time and place of transfer, the name and address of the transferor and the transferee, whether the transferor is the producer or importer of the waste, which (if any) authorised transport purpose applies, in which category of person the transferor and the transferee are and certain additional information. It also requires the transferor and the transferee to keep the written description of the waste and the transfer note or copies of them for two years from the transfer.
The 2003 amendment allow for waste collection authorities to serve notices on persons who are required to keep written descriptions of waste and transfer notices under the primary regulations, and to require those persons to furnish such documents to the waste collection authority at their offices within a specified period of time.
Revive IT is compliant with this legislation in the following ways:
